With winter on its way, the risk and number of home fire incidents will probably creep up. They always do. Although the National Fire Prevention Association says the number of home fires and related injuries and deaths have steadily declined for the past few decades, one fire is still one too many.
In your role as a certified home inspector, you can educate your community about home fire safety. Whether you reach an apartment dweller, longtime homeowner or someone buying their first house, any fire that you can help prevent makes the effort worthwhile.
Here are a few ideas for ramping up a fire safety campaign this fall.
#1: Pick a Fire Safety Day Each Week
If you use social media, you’ve got the perfect venue for educating people in your market and around the world. If you don’t, what are you waiting for? Every week, you could post one fire safety topic that’s relevant and valuable for your audience.
Here are a few timely ones for cold weather:
- Space heaters
- Wood-burning appliances
- Outdated wiring
- Overlamping light fixtures
- Kerosene heaters
- Cooking/grease fires
- Turkey fryers
Whether Tuesday, Thursday or Monday is your Fire Safety day, stick with it. Each week, post about changing smoke alarm batteries, repairing known electrical issues in the home, getting rid of old dangerous space heaters and anything else that comes to mind. Your audience doesn’t have to be a homeowner to need fire safety tips.
#2: Interview your Local Fire Chief or Another Expert and Write About It
Does your area have a certain concentration of fire safety issues? Maybe there are more older homes with outdated wiring. Or maybe people tend to burn leaves in the fall, which means a fire could get out of hand. Ask your local Fire Chief to give an interview to learn what matters to your community.
Once you’re done, write about it. You could create a fire-safety e-book for website visitors to download, make social media posts, blog posts or all three. The important thing is to share what you’ve learned with the community that it’s relevant for.
Because of your advice, a homeowner could swap out their smoke alarm battery just in time to save their home and family.
#3: Talk Bluntly with Customers About Fire-Safety Issues
At no other time will you have greater access to home buyers than during and immediately after a home inspection. Naturally, you note all defects, such as a bad outlet or overloaded circuit breaker box, that affect the fire safety of the structure. But while you have the customer’s attention, use that time to offer one-on-one advice.
Unlike advising a customer to replace a roof, no liability can come from a personal conversation about fire safety. Customers already view you as an expert. Reading about why they need a chimney sweep and repair technician might not resonate as much as seeing creosote buildup and broken firebricks in person.
You’ve got several chances to make a difference in the fire safety statistics throughout your community. Everyone, even renters, can benefit from what you have to say. And who knows—some of them could become customers!
So read up on new fire safety technology and spread the word. Write up a fire-safety sheet to hand out to all of your customers. Winter will be here before you know it. If your knowledge only saves one home and family from a house fire, all of your efforts will have been worth it.
Is your home inspection reporting software up to snuff for the next season? If not, there’s no reason to put it off. Report Form Pro is a straightforward, convenient solution that gives your customers the results they expect. It also frees you from syncing your device to a computer later. Just finalize the report and send it from wherever you have a mobile device signal.
Download the home inspection app for Android or get it for your iPhone or iPad at the App Store today.